Bringing the world closer to you

I have always been a fan of architecture, in my younger years, my father would always take me along to the houses he designed and from that I’ve grown an appreciation towards buildings and their style and beauty. While visiting Dubai there was one building I just had to see, more than any of the other magnificent skyscraper, that is in the UAE and that building is called the Burj Khalifa!

The tallest building in the world stands 828 meters tall, dwarfing every other building around Dubai. What I want to write about today is the top 5 things you must do when visiting the Burj Khalifa, as you would be surprised the amount of things the building has to offer!

Visit the Top at the 148th Floor.

There are 3 different levels to explore in the Burj, the 148th, the 125th and the 124th floor. Tourists can buy tickets either to the 148th or the 124th floor, what I recommend is to buy a tickets for the 148th floor as it allows you to visit the other floors when you decide to descend from the clouds of the observation deck.

The 148th Floor ‘The Sky Deck’Tayla poses outside the Dubai Fountains with the Burj in the background.

2. Watch the Sunset from the SKY Deck.

Timing is everything when it comes to visiting the Burj, as they do not allow everyone up at once. You have to buy time slot tickets and I suggest the best ticket to buy is the one about 45 minutes before sunset. The reason for this is that you get to see Dubai during the day and then when the sun sets you get to see the magical city of Dubai light up like a Christmas Tree! The whole experience changes as the sunlight disappears behind the Earth, Dubai turns on its lights and you get to experience the show that is Dubai at night!

Be sure to get into a good position a few minutes before sunset as allot of people want to get that perfect sunset shot so it gets very crowded, but you won’t regret it as the photos you get will be mind blowing!

The thick glass makes it look like two sunsets are happening at the same time.

The view at night from the 125th floor just as the sun has set.

3. Make sure to visit 125th and 124th floor!

After catching your sunset the adventure is not over! As you have bought the ticket for the SKY Deck you do have the choices to visit the other floors and I highly recommend this! Floor 125 allows tourists to get a full 360* view from a height of 456 meters. This is the perfect level to watch as the sun dips under the ocean and the city of Dubai lights up. There are comfortable chairs to relax on as the city slowly lights up! You can also witness a birds eye view of Dubai on a large screen and watch how the Burj was constructed from bottom to the top. The total amount of concrete used in the tower weighed as much as 100 000 elephants!

There is a gift store on the 125th but I recommend going down to the 124th floor as they have another gift shop there, it is twice the size and you have allot more to choose from on the 124th floor. You can also finish off your experience with a green screen photoshoot, getting a set of really cool photos!

Tayla enjoying the view from the 148th floor.

4. Express = No Stress

An express ticket may cost a little bit more but it will make a huge difference when you are up in the Burj. The express pass is useless during the day from 10am-4pm as this is not prime time. Remember everyone wants to go up and watch the sunset so thinking ahead and getting an express can get you into the front of the lines so there is no need to rush or run to get to the good spots.

When descending the Burj the lines can almost stretch right around the building and may take hours to get back down. With an express ticket you jump right to the front and have a nice ride down the elevator. Instead of having to stress and stand in line for a few hours, as the elevator can only take a certain amount of people down at a time. So think ahead to ditch the lines and crowds of tourists and make your experience a calm and wonderful adventure!

Getting to the top of the Burj with no hassle of waiting in line!

5. Top off your evening by watching the Dubai Fountains.

Once you have left the elevator and acclimatized back to being on the ground, to top off your magical evening you should go watch the beautiful Dubai Fountains just outside the Burj Khalifa. The fountains are free but they do get quite congested as hundreds of spectators come to watch the dancing water. When I was there I watched three different performances and each time it gave me goose bumps as it is just breathtaking!

If you are battling with the heat, then I recommend heading over to one of the restaurants a few steps away from the fountains and ordering an ice cold glass of Ice Tea and watch the fountains from a more comfortable spot, but there is noting like being right up close to the fountains feeling the cold spray as they go off in spectacular style!

Watching the fountains just as the sun is setting is the best time to go and watch!

Thank you so much for reading this blog about the magical Burj Khalifa!

Please let me know if this was helpful and be sure to check out my Youtube Channel to watch my travels to the UAE.

Stef Rustic starting a blog?? But you’re a filmmaker right? Why are you doing this now?

These are a few questions I’ve been asked already by some of my friends and social media followers on why I want to start a travel Blog and the reason is that I cannot show everything in my videos. So I felt having a blog can help tell a different story, to what you watch online as there are so many stories I want to share with you but just cannot put it all on film, as I would just be editing all day and night turning myself into a pale zombie, who hasn’t seen the sun in weeks. So yes, that’s why I want to start a Travel Blog to share all the saucy details with you that a video cannot, I also want to branch off into the world of writing sharing my little stories through word.

Tayla and I have recently came back from the UAE which is in the Middle East and on arrival back in South Africa I thought to myself there was so much I didn’t share with you and that is when the idea of a blog came to mind! The UAE was amazing and I want to share all my knowledge with you, to maybe make your trip a little smooth when you decide to go and visit.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai were extreme eye openers to me, as their worlds were just so different to the country of South Africa (where i am from). I started to feel a very strong sense of a culture shock with all these different, new people, new rules and also getting use to the heat vs the air conditioning constantly in and out. I managed very quickly to accept and get over my problems, opened my heart to the world and filled it with something magical.

What I want to share in the next few posts will be either stories we experienced or some informative blogs were we talk about how, we have learnt from mistakes so you don’t have to go through the same problems we had to go through allowing you to have a safe and smooth, epic holiday!

So I cannot wait to start sharing my ultimate experiences with you my new readers! Give me sometime in the beginning because I’m still not used to this thing called a ‘blog’, I know ‘Vlogs’ but I’m excited about the new challenge!

Thank you to everyone who gave my first article a read and I cannot wait to get into the travel stories we have here to tell you!